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17 June 2004

Microsoft and Multimap Sign Agreement to Accelerate Delivery of Location Technology via XML Web Services

Partnership Combines Multimap’s Expertise in Location-Enabled Solutions Development With Microsoft’s MapPoint Web Service Platform Technology

Microsoft and Multimap, a leading provider of online mapping and location-based solutions, today announced they have signed an agreement to accelerate the delivery of solutions based on the Microsoft® MapPoint® Web Service.

As part of a non-exclusive worldwide partnership, Multimap will add Microsoft’s MapPoint Web Service to its service portfolio, providing customers and prospects with a broader range of services. MapPoint Web Service supports Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Extensible Markup Language (XML) to enable the integration of location-based services — such as maps, driving directions and proximity searches — into applications and business processes. MapPoint Web Service can be easily combined and integrated with other XML-based web services, making it very straightforward for enterprises to gain the full business value of incorporating location data into their applications and processes.

Under the agreement, Multimap will integrate and resell Microsoft MapPoint Web services with its Storefinder and dealer locator services. Multimap will continue to provide solutions based on its own online mapping platform. The collaboration also extends to new MapPoint offerings including the recently announced MapPoint Location Server.

Natuzzi in Italy is one of the first customers to adopt the service functionality. For Natuzzi, Multimap provided custom development and support to integrate MapPoint Web Service functionality into Natuzzi’s existing dealer locator. According to Matthew Watkins, internet division manager of Natuzzi, “The combination of Multimap’s strong solution development and project-management skills and MapPoint Web Service’s guaranteed high performance and availability gave us the best-of-breed proposition we had been looking for but could not find previously.”

“Working with Microsoft gives our customers a greater choice of services and content. And MapPoint’s seamless interoperability with our customers’ enterprise IT infrastructure enables us to provide an even higher level of software integration,” said Jeff Kelisky, CEO at Multimap.

“Multimap is a leading company in the industry in award-winning, first-class customer support and customer focus,” said Michael Graff, general manager of the MapPoint business unit at Microsoft. “Multimap’s strong industry expertise and presence in the United Kingdom and Europe puts us in a unique position to help businesses throughout Europe realize the full potential of location technology without having to invest in expensive or hard-to-deploy geographic information systems .”

About Multimap.com
Multimap.com is Europe's leading provider of mapping and location-based services. The company delivers more online maps, point-to-point driving directions and geo-spatial ("where's my nearest?") searches to more companies than any other supplier in Europe. All services are offered on WAP, PDA, kiosk, and interactive TV platforms and in multiple languages.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.